This invention is related to a method of computer control and, more particularly, to a system for automatically directing a web browser application on the computer to retrieve and display information in response to an analog signal.
With the growing numbers of computer users connecting to the xe2x80x9cInternet,xe2x80x9d many companies are seeking the substantial commercial opportunities presented by such a large user base. For example, one technology which exists allows a television (xe2x80x9cTVxe2x80x9d) signal to trigger a computer response in which the consumer will be guided to a personalized web page. The source of the triggering signal may be a TV, video tape recorder, or radio. For example, if a viewer is watching a TV program in which an advertiser offers viewer voting, the advertiser may transmit a unique signal within the television signal which controls a program known as a xe2x80x9cbrowserxe2x80x9d on the viewer""s computer to automatically display the advertiser""s web page. The viewer then simply makes a selection which is then transmitted back to the advertiser.
In order to provide the viewer with the capability of responding to a wide variety of companies using this technology, a database of company information and Uniform Resource Locator (xe2x80x9cURLxe2x80x9d) codes is necessarily maintained in the viewer""s computer, requiring continuous updates. URLs are short strings of data that identify resources on the Internet: documents, images, downloadable files, services, electronic mailboxes, and other resources. URLs make resources available under a variety of naming schemes and access methods such as HTTP, FTP, and Internet mail, addressable in the same simple way. URLs reduce the tedium of xe2x80x9clogin to this server, then issue this magic command . . . xe2x80x9d down to a single click. The Internet uses URLs to specify the location of files on other servers. A URL includes the type of resource being accessed (e.g., Web, gopher, FTP), the address of the server, and the location of the file. The URL can point to any file on any networked computer. Current technology requires the viewer to perform periodic updates to obtain the most current URL database. This aspect of the current technology is cumbersome since the update process requires downloading information to the viewer""s computer. Moreover, the likelihood for error in performing the update, and the necessity of redoing the update in the event of a later computer crash, further complicates the process. Additionally, current technologies are limited in the number of companies which may be stored in the database. This is a significant limitation since world-wide access presented by the Internet and the increasing number of companies connecting to perform on-line E-commerce necessitates a large database.
The present invention disclosed and claimed herein, in one aspect thereof, comprises a routing string representative of a location on a global communication network of product source information associated with a product having a unique product code commercially associated with the product disposed thereon with encoded information contained therein regarding commercial information about the associated product that is utilized in standard retail commercial transactions. A first data field is provided having disposed therein information representing the unique product code associated with a product that was obtained from a product. A second data field is coupled with the first data field and has disposed therein information representing the location of an intermediate node on a global communication network. The intermediate node has a database contained thereat that has cross-reference information relating to an associative relationship between stored first data field information and routing information on the global communication network for product source information locations associated with a plurality of different products. Each product associated with the database has a separate product source information location, which stored first data field information can be compared to the information in the first data field to define a routing -path over the global communications network to the associated product source information location. A third data field is coupled with the first data field and the second data field and is representative of information relating to the transaction whereby the first data field was created. The combination of the first data field, the second data field and the third data field provides a user of a computer routing access to the product source information location on the global communication network that is defined in the database.